This invention relates to grinding tools, and especially to rotatably mounted tools carrying abrasive segments particularly adapted for surface working of materials such as concrete, granite, and marble.
Such types of grinding tools have been commonly employed for the smooth finishing of exposed concrete blocks used in building construction, as well as for grinding and texturing road pavement surfaces. For concrete block applications, the grinding tool is shaft-mounted in a machine to position its peripheral abrasive surface for rotary, working contact with concrete blocks which are moved past the tool. In road surfacing applications, the tool is rotatably supported on a vehicle which traverses the road surface. For drainage and friction enhancement, road surfaces are grooved or textured.
The aforesaid different applications require mounting the abrasive segments in different spacing and pattern arrangements. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,839 to Younger. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,324,603 and 3,324,607 to Niemiec also disclose rotary grinding tools with peripherally mounted abrasive segments for surface working of concrete and the like.
However, the tools of Younger and Niemiec present problems in manufacture and assembly and are limited as to the spacing and orientation of abrasive segment mounting for suitable use in varied applications ranging from smooth finishing to grooving. The abrasive segments themselves and/or their mounting bands as disclosed by Younger and Niemiec are of circular or curvilinear shape and are mounted circumferentially around a cylindrical drum. With such constructions, it is extremely difficult to precisely machine a curved surface on an abrasive segment or its mounting band so as to precisely conform to the curvilinear surface of a cylindrical mounting drum. Unavoidable mismatches in such machining and assembly operations cause uneven contact of the abrasive segments or their mounting bands with the support drum, with resultant loose fitting and undesired vibration of the abrasive segments.
With this background in mind, an improved, rotary grinding tool has been developed which overcomes the aforesaid problems associated with prior art tools of the type described.